What was he supposed to do now?
Speaking coldly, Noah could never beat Riette. Even if they were both S-rank, the difference in ability between the two of them was stark. Riette, who boasted overwhelming power even among combat-type S-ranks, and Noah, a support-type who did not even properly possess any decent attack skills.
To anyone at all, the outcome was obvious.
"Well then, Faible. What will you do now?"
Riette leisurely stepped back a couple of paces. Her attitude plainly said that if he wanted to come at her, he could come at her as much as he pleased. Noah slowly got to his feet.
"…Please let me go."
"Why should I?"
Her dark blue-black eyes glittered brightly. Baring her sharp fangs, Riette smiled soundlessly.
"If you won't come."
Noah sucked in a breath and threw himself sideways. At the same time—
Kwa-gwa-gwang!
The place where he had been standing was gouged out in one massive blast. Fragments of paving stone flew up, and the glass wall and signboard of a nearby shop shattered to pieces. Noah did not stop; he kept running. Along the path he ran, explosions kept roaring one after another.
Crash crash, the display windows shattered in succession, and the goods arranged inside tumbled all over the place as though caught in a whirlwind. Kwoong! A piano fell right behind Noah, producing a mangled burst of notes.
"Faa~ible!"
Her voice was so lively it sounded almost cheerful. Noah panted softly. Dirt and dust wrapped around his body, and paint that had burst out of some store somewhere smeared stains across his clothes. He was already a complete mess, but to Riette this was neither more nor less than simple play.
It had always been like this.
Even when Riette only meant to give him a little poke, Noah—Faible—had struggled.
And her control over her strength had always been absurdly precise; it never went so far that his life was truly in danger. Riette would get wildly excited on her own, then go, Ah, that was fun, and that would be the end of it.
Rumble—A building shook violently as it took the force of Riette's sword strike. Then once more: with another impact striking the side of the structure, the building began collapsing toward Noah in a crashing heap. Noah quickly spread his wings and flew up, dodging the chunks of concrete raining down.
"No running away!"
Using the collapsing debris like a staircase, Riette sprang upward, then spun wide in midair. Round and round—her body flipped, and her heel came crashing down straight toward Noah's back. If that hit him, even if he spammed healing skills on himself, he would not be able to move for over ten minutes!
Noah folded his wings and dropped straight down. His dive was just barely faster than the speed of her descending heel. Boom! Noah fell into the ruins of the building, dismissed his wings, and immediately rolled to the side. By a hair's breadth, Riette landed where he had been a moment before. As though a meteor had struck, kwa-gwa-gwang, a deep crater was punched into the ground.
"If you don't go near the barrier, I'll go a little easy on you~"
Riette said it brightly. Just like always, she had absolutely no sense that she was tormenting Noah. To Riette, this was nothing important. Even if the positions had been reversed and Noah were stronger than she was, it would not have mattered to her.
If Riette had been Noah, then she would have thrown herself at a stronger opponent who did not kill her over and over again without ever giving up, having the time of her life doing it.
Noah knew that too. And because he knew it, it only made this feel more hopeless and despairing. Noah had tried to understand Riette, and to some degree he did understand her—but Riette was not the same. What she possessed was protection and interest that were terribly one-sided.
"Stop it!"
"Why?"
"I hate it when Noona acts like this!"
Riette tilted her head.
"Didn't you want acknowledgment? Come at me with that same spirit you had earlier, Faible."
"I know perfectly well that I can't beat you, Noona!"
"That still doesn't matter, does it? I won't kill you."
So what could be a better sparring partner than that? Noah met his older sister's perfectly calm face head-on. After enduring her for so long, it had become habit to lower his head and shrink in on himself, but he stiffened his neck and held it up as high as he could.
Because he had beaten her once.
Even if it had only been once, even if it had not been by his own strength alone. Even so, that one time was enough to push Noah's back straight.
"But your little brother still died."
Riette's brows furrowed slightly. Her lips jutted.
"Because he was weak."
"No. No—his dying doesn't matter. So what was I like after that? There's no point even asking. To the bitter end, I must have stayed Faible."
Pressed down by Riette, bound by her. Noah drew in a huge breath and shouted.
"I hate that version of you, Noona! You piss me off!"
"What?"
"I said I hate it! I really do! You're selfish and violent! I did all the housework too!"
"You cried saying you couldn't eat it because it tasted bad!"
"Do you have any idea how hard it was just to say that!"
Noah grabbed hold of a half-broken roadside tree. Crack. He tore it all the way free and hurled it at Riette. Riette swatted it aside with one hand as though brushing off a fly. Crunch—the tree slammed into the sign of a convenience store.
"There was a time when I admired you too, Noona! Because you were strong, really!"
He could not help but think she was incredible. Riette was strong. More than anyone, she was a person to whom the word weak did not fit. That had been true even before Awakening. No matter what happened, she was always confident. Even when she failed, she brushed it aside lightly and stood back up. No matter what anyone said, she had never once bowed her head.
"But as a sister, you're the worst!"
At Noah's outcry, Riette's brow tightened sharply.
"I didn't kill you!"
"That should be the bare minimum! Because I'm your little brother!"
"Why? You were a rival trying to take what was mine."
"…What?"
Still frowning, Riette started walking toward him. Noah's shoulders drew in slightly with tension. To maintain the distance between them, he sprang backward.
"When I entered school, Mom and Dad had you. They were trying to pretend I didn't exist and make themselves a new family. So of course I had to kill you. I was still young back then."
She felt no affection for her parents, but she still needed their protection. Riette had reached that conclusion coldly, then waited obediently while pretending not to care. A newborn baby was small and weak, so secretly getting rid of one would not be difficult.
"When I showed no interest, Mom and Dad relaxed. They thought that if I just got a little older, they could send me off to a boarding school or something and become a normal family. They let their guard down, and they showed you to me."
This is your little brother.
After hearing those words, Riette decided not to kill her little brother. That thing was hers, and unexpectedly, it was pretty cute. It did nothing but wriggle uselessly, but it was not bad. Besides, unlike her parents, it also felt like it might be a little stronger.
"So in the end Mom and Dad abandoned you too~ They thought that if they took you away, I'd chase after them. But I didn't kill you, and I raised you so you wouldn't die. Because you were my little brother."
"…Noona, you really…"
Looking at Riette's expression, which plainly asked what exactly was supposed to be wrong with that, Noah let out an empty laugh.
It was enough to drive anyone crazy, but Riette truly had cared for her little brother. It was just that her standards were not normal. She had taken care of her little brother. Even if it was the sort of care that would have been better off abandoned entirely, Noah had come to understand his older sister to some degree, and because of that he could not completely hate her.
He had tried to shake her off and sever ties, but it had ultimately been impossible to bring everything to a complete end with a single fight.
She was his guardian and his caregiver.
"But I am not you, Noona. I can't become like you, and I can't follow your standards."
"Faible."
"It's true that you raised me. And I also tried. There was a time when I wanted to become like you."
That was why he had grown into an S-rank. Even if Riette had dragged him along by force and with violence, if Noah had rejected it to the very end, if he had not made the effort himself, that growth would never have been possible. He too had wanted to become strong. Even now, that lingering attachment remained deeply rooted in him.
Noah looked at his own status window.
[Light Dragon Species (SSS) – Not Applied]
A title he had purchased using the points he had earned from the dungeon in Japan. It suited Noah's aptitude, and despite being SSS-rank—a title, the highest-value type there was, even above items and skills—it had been discounted enough for him to buy it.
However—
[Light-attribute dragon transformation skill. Permanently active once the skill is acquired. User state mutates with specialization toward support/healing type.]
The last line of the short description window—the part saying that his state would mutate with specialization toward the support-healing type—had continued to bother him. The Twins of Dio Valshesis, the Cursed Poison Dragon Species, had still possessed combat-type characteristics. But if he applied that title, would the characteristics of the Cursed Poison Dragon Species become blurred instead?
So he had hesitated the entire time.
Noah had admired Riette. He had envied Han Yoohyun. Rather than being a support-type who propped others up, he had wanted to become a powerful Hunter who could stand proudly on his own.
When he had become Mu of Medsang, he had thought that even a support-type could become strong enough.
But reality was bleak and cold. Could he really do it? Did he truly want to remain support-type? If he accepted the Light Dragon Species title, would he instead only become more half-baked than before?
"You and I are different, Noona."
Noah touched the Light Dragon Species title with his fingertip. He might regret it. But failing once or twice was okay. He had been told he was at an age where it was fine to get lost and wander. Even if he collapsed, there were people around Noah who would help him back up.
Even that violent older sister standing before him. If Noah wanted it, she would help him too.
[The title 'Light Dragon Species' is being applied!
The title 'Twins of Dio Valshesis' reacts to the title 'Light Dragon Species.'
Of the Twins of Dio Valshesis, the younger sibling inherited the blood of the father's line, that of the Light Dragon, more strongly.
The two connected titles gradually begin to blend together!
Estimated rank of synthesized title – SSS~L]
"The twins…"
Noah's eyes widened. Certainly, the Twins of Dio Valshesis had possessed appearances far too different to truly seem like twins. But for that to have been because another dragon species had been mixed in. On top of that, if the titles synthesized, it could grow as far as L-rank. And even if it remained SSS-rank, the odds were high that it would still be high-tier.
[Light Dragon Species (SSS)
A higher dragon species of the support-healing type.
Additional title skills
Nest Where Light Falls (SSS)
Dragon Transformation (SSS)
Conductor of Mana (SS)]
[The S-rank title skill of Light Dragon Species and the S-rank title skill of Twins of Dio Valshesis are blending together!
Forced Blessing (SS)]
"What are you doing, Faible?"
Seeing Noah standing there blankly, Riette asked. Noah abruptly lifted his head.
"So it really was different. I didn't think even this would be different."
"Hm?"
"Even so, we're still twins."
Wings spread from Noah's back. Golden feathers wavered under the sunset with a reddish glow.
"Huh? Your wings—"
"I'm a support-type! Of course I can't beat you on my own, Noona!"
Because he was support-type, that was only natural. It wasn't because Noah was weak. It was because his nature was different. He was simply different. He was not combat-type. His road and Riette's road were not the same.
"Trying to run away again?"
"I'll come back."
"You're not going anywhere, Faible!"
Riette leaped toward the rising Noah. With a terrifying sound splitting the air, the wind whipped violently. Noah's wing feathers tossed wildly. Barely dodging the attack, Noah skimmed between buildings and used a skill on Riette.
Forced Blessing.
"…Huh?"
Riette, who had been about to charge at Noah again, failed to correct her direction and smashed straight into a building. Kwa-gwa-gwang! The lower section of the building caved in, and it tilted with a grating groan.
"What was that? My body…"
For an instant, she had been unable to control it. Noah's Forced Blessing was a combination of a support skill and a curse skill. Normally, support skills could only be applied if the other party accepted them, and control was also automatically handled so that the target could immediately adjust to the suddenly raised stats.
But Forced Blessing applied itself without the other party's permission. On top of that, it could make stat adaptation impossible. Moreover, support-skill buffs were usually percentage-based increases according to the target's existing stats, so the higher the target's base stats—as with Riette—the harder it became for them to control their own body.
Even for a born S-rank with excellent adaptability, there was no way not to be vulnerable for a brief instant when their stats changed suddenly.
"Interesting."
Bursting out through the collapsing building, Riette swept back her thoroughly disheveled hair.
"But that's still not enough!"
Even if interference struck her in sudden bursts, it could not bridge the gap between Noah and Riette. This time, instead of moving herself, Riette sent out sword strikes. A sharp slash skimmed over Noah's head and hammered into the upper part of a building. Ureureung—like thunder, the building boomed and showered down debris. Then, in rapid succession, the tops of other buildings also burst apart.
She intended to block Noah's field of vision so he could not use his skill properly. At the same time, covering herself with the debris pouring down like rain, Riette rapidly closed in on Noah.
"Show me a few more tricks!"
The tip of her blade scored a long line across Noah's wing. No blood flew, but feathers fluttered down in a spray. For an instant Noah lost his balance—
"Wow, an angel!"
Someone caught him. And then, just like that, they teleported.
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